


In A Hole

by lost_spook



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Collection: Fandom Stocking 2014, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-08
Updated: 2015-01-08
Packaged: 2018-03-06 16:53:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3141779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook/pseuds/lost_spook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina has to help Emma out of a hole.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In A Hole

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Selenay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selenay/gifts).



“You’re supposed to be the Savior,” said Regina from somewhere much too far above Emma’s head. “I’d have thought you’d at least have had the super power of looking where you were going.”

Emma opened her eyes and then winced, feeling that had been a mistake. She could see stars from down here – actual stars and not cute Disney ones circling round her head, because that sort of thing needed spelling out when you lived in Storybrooke. She must have managed to break her fall somehow – maybe with her magic. She wasn’t quite clear; still feeling too dazed. There were warning aches from all over her body that made her feel sure moving wasn’t the best plan just yet. 

“It’s a very large hole,” Regina continued from somewhere still out of sight. “How could anyone miss it? Or maybe I should say how could you _not_ manage to miss it?”

Emma gritted her teeth. “ _Regina_. I could use a hand down here, not a lecture.”

“Hold on, I’m letting down a rope,” said Regina, and Emma could see her head now, at the top of the hole. It was, to be fair to Regina, a very large hole, and Emma wasn’t quite sure how she hadn’t missed it, either, except it hadn’t been there last time she’d come round this way. Regina paused and squinted down at her, sounding slightly more concerned again. “You are all right, aren’t you?”

Emma had to think about that. “Yeah. Well, mostly. I’m alive. Probably not exactly all _that_ okay. I’m going to need some help. Sorry.”

“There’s a rope,” said Regina, as if she thought Emma hadn’t heard or noticed.

Emma sighed. “Yeah, but I think you might need to come down it, because I don’t think I can get up it without a hand.”

“I didn’t dress for this, you know.”

Emma glared upward. “Well, whose fault is that?”

“Are you saying that next time you suggest we go to Granny’s, get a coffee and chat about Henry, that I should dress for the inevitable hiking adventure that’s going to happen when you get distracted by lights in the forest and then fall headlong down a very large hole?” There was another pause. “Well, I suppose you may have a point.”

“ _Regina_ ,” said Emma again. “Can we get this over with already? Can’t you just magic me out of here or something?”

“I _did_ use magic,” Regina said. “I don’t take a rope and tackle with me every time I leave the house, or hadn’t you noticed that, either?”

Regina made it to the bottom, however, with not a hair out of place, which Emma felt was pretty unlikely for someone who wasn’t using magic. On the other hand, it was Regina. She probably had some sort of annoying innate ability to remain impeccably dressed at all times. Even when she was standing at the bottom of a hole, and frowning in distaste at her surroundings in the semi-darkness – tree roots and loose dirt, small stones, and dead pine needles.

Then she moved across to crouch down beside Emma, her face registering concern rather than annoyance. “You’re really _not_ okay, are you?”

“I’m not sure,” said Emma. “I might be. I mean, I just didn’t want to try moving too fast in case I wasn’t.”

Regina put out a hand to Emma’s arm, using her powers. Emma felt her head clear instantly and the threatening aches and pains receded into nothing.

“Thanks.”

Regina shrugged, and stood. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Hang on,” said Emma, getting to her feet and catching hold of Regina before she could move away. “The thing is, I think it isn’t just a hole – I think it goes somewhere.”

Regina turned her head. “You mean a mysterious hole appeared out of nowhere – and now there’s a tunnel attached?”

“Not exactly unheard of round here, is it?” said Emma, holding up her hand, and lighting the hole, revealing, as she had suspected, a tunnel stretching away in front of them.

“I’m never going anywhere with you again, Swan.”

Emma grinned to herself. “Look, we could go back, I know, but if there’s something down there, by the time we do, it could have eaten half the town, knowing the way things go round here.”

“Point taken,” said Regina, sounding resigned. “You do know, though, even in Storybrooke, it could merely be a combination of subsidence and some closed-off section of the mines? Which was _definitely_ not what I dressed for this afternoon.”

Emma led the way forward, biting back amusement, since it was pretty hard to picture Regina wearing almost anything that might be appropriate for potholing, or abseiling.

“What?” said Regina, catching her expression instantly. “What is it?”

“Oh, just imagining you wearing something sensible, that’s all!”


End file.
